The Ja Morant injury cycle reared its ugly head again as he was announced to be considered week-to-week after suffering a sprained left ankle in practice ahead of their preseason opener. The good news is the week-to-week timeline reveals that the injury isn't likely to put him in jeopardy of missing the team's season opener on October 22nd.
However, it does remove valuable on-court time for the point guard to create in-game chemistry with his teammates in head coach Tuomas Iisalo's fully implemented system. Now, the Grizzlies face the reality of missing their presumed top three players for the entirety of the preseason, with Jaren Jackson Jr. and Zach Edey already out after offseason surgeries.
Although Ja Morant isn't likely to lose regular-season time with his latest injury, it does add pause for concern due to his recent injury history.
Life without Ja Morant hasn't been kind to Memphis
Last season, Ja Morant missed 32 games, but the Grizzlies' record was 18-14 in those games. That record would be welcome without him, but this year's team can't afford for him to miss that much time again. Not many teams in the NBA can lose their best player for a long period and expect success, and it gets worse now that Desmond Bane is in another uniform.
The Grizzlies went all-in this offseason on building around their Ja Morant-Jaren Jackson Jr. tandem, rather than a big three model, but that comes with a cost if one or both players miss significant time. Their backup backcourt combination of Ty Jerome and Scotty Pippen Jr. figures to provide sufficient playmaking to lessen the blow of Morant potentially missing time, but it isn't sustainable for a team looking to compete in the Western Conference.
The Grizzlies' expected starting wing rotation (Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Jaylen Wells) next to Morant need him available as much as possible to find consistent success, as their games rely on a playmaker. Roster depth is better for the Grizzlies this season, but that only goes so far as they need their top players to be on the court for everything to flow.
Injuries will always be a part of the game, but luck will have to prevail at some point for Morant and the Grizzlies as a team. Again, the good news is that Morant's latest setback won't likely hinder him long term, especially after seeing him return from an ankle sprain within three days in their play-in tournament games against the Golden State Warriors and Dallas Mavericks in April.